Hello everybody; it’s good to be back in the world

What an absolutely unreal, surrealistic week it has been here on the North Oregon coast. It began Sunday December 2nd. The weather predictions were ones we had heard often, “high wind warnings, rain.” Often, in past winters, we had winds up to 75 mph, didn’t like it, but battened down the hatches and waited it out. I was worried about our little Jack Russell who has a terrible case of nerves when it happens. I loaded up on groceries for us, liquid children’s Benadryl for the dog and waited.

They’re now calling it “the perfect storm,” as tropical air in massive amounts moved in on a colder front, resulting in a hurricane on the Oregon coast. That afternoon the wind began to blow and shake this old 118 year old house. A few hours into it we lost power. Our little transistor radio became our touch with the outside world and not much of that. Phone lines were down, roads were cut off and the rest of the world didn’t seem to exist. The entire Oregon Coast was affected. The winds roared for 36 hours without pause, reaching 130 mph. We have a 150 ft. “monkey puzzle tree” in our front yard, and I kept wondering when it was going to fall on us. The old leaded glass windows shook, but, thankfully, remained intact. In our backyard, the neighbor has a hundred foot cedar that was also whipping around. The lid flew off our storage shed and landed a hundred feet away in the street. Ceramic pots flew off my porch like they were bits of paper. All over the N. Coast roofs flew off houses or were broken in by falling trees.

The largest Sitka spruce tree in the USA, dating back to the twelfth century blew down near Seaside, OR. Whole forests were toppled like toy soldiers felled in battle. Thousands of trees are down as a result of the prolonged winds. Residents kept calling into the ever faithful radio stations saying, “I have a view of the river now, never had one before.” All three roads leading into town were cut off. Due to my health and problems dealing with the cold, my first instinct was to get the heck out of here, however when the roads are covered with trees, downed power lines are sparking and you can’t buy gasoline, that’s not an option.

The poor Pacific Power workers were out when they could safely manipulate, but had to cut their way into areas with chain saws. For instance, the guys who went out to check the Water Plant had to travel four miles and it took them 10 hours because they had to cut their way clear, each foot of the way. We have a Coast Guard station here and as soon as they could they started serving meals. Power workers were promised from Utah and Montana, but the first day they couldn’t get through with all the major highways filled with trees. Helicopters couldn’t fly in the wind, of course, but after the winds died down they began to arrive. We currently have 100 trucks from Pacific Power along with 300 workmen from all over the NW, including some from Utah and Montana. One highway was opened for one lane and a usual trip to Longview, WA, which should have taken 45 min. took five hours. Generators, batteries and radios sold out within a day. Our son-in-law who has a family owned lumber yard ordered more generators from Portland as did many others. It took the truck six hours to get out here. All of this was hampered because communication was down. No TV, no Internet, only local phone service to your own prefix. We were totally isolated. The hospital, the jail and other services were running on gasoline or diesel-powered generators.

We are among the blessed. As far as we know we have no blown windows and the roof is still on. Our daughter and her husband lost every tree and a couple of massive bushes in their back yard. One tree, over 100 feet tall, landed between their house and the neighbors. Some trees in the area were felled as the massive, wet root balls were pulled out of the ground by the amazing winds. Other trees were shirred in half by mother nature’s chainsaw. It’s so amazing to see. If you are proficient with the Internet, look up Astoria, Seaside and Cannon Beach, Oregon. The national news gave it such little coverage our son in Texas didn’t even know we were in trouble. 40,000 of us were without power or phones for five days. The power went back on here last evening, but it is still off on much of the coast. Some individuals a few blocks away don’t have power if there is a downed line in their yard. These power workers are going about their enormous tasks of replacing transformers, mending downed lines along with all the trees they have to get out of their way. All over Washington state, there is flooding, in massive amounts. A little town not far from here, Vernonia, had such severe flooding mud was rolling through houses. Speaking of mud, some of the local cars were hit and damaged by enormous mud balls as they flew through the air.

On the positive side, there was no looting in spite of the fact most of the windows in stores downtown were blown out. Our Commercial street was a sea of glass. Neighbors helped neighbors. There was one guy who was selling gasoline for $5 a gallon and another caught siphoning gas, but that’s the worst. When my daughter and her husband got their generator going a couple of days ago the dogs and I moved in over there. Jim stayed home after work because he didn’t feel it wise to leave our house unprotected.

I just had to share all of this with you, my faithful friends, because I didn’t want you to think I’d forgotten you. Have to close now because I have to clean out rotten food from freezer and the refrigerator. Last night, I couldn’t believe how wonderful a hot bath felt. Today will also mean a trip to the store, laundry and a check of medications. How am I doing? I’m okay. I’m exhausted and so glad it’s over. At one time I was wearing six layers of clothing when the temperatures dipped down to the 30s. My husband, who is never cold did quite well but is also exhausted. You can only imagine all the inconvenience of the businesses writing out receipts without power or computers, pharmacies handing out enough pills for a couple of days, the jail using keys for locks, etc. The local radio stations were so faithful and kept us informed 24 hours a day. We’ve lived here for 10 years and always loved it – now I know why.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sue Falkner-Wood

Sue Falkner-Wood is a retired registered nurse living in Astoria, Ore., with her husband, who is also an R.N. Sue left nursing in 1990 due to chronic pain and other symptoms related to what was eventually...read more